Top positive review

I am always fascinated by the experiences others have living overseas—probably since I have spent many years as an expatriate myself.Silent Tears started out with a woman, somewhere in her thirties, preparing to move to China with her husband (a businessman) and her elementary-school aged daughter. A second teenaged daughter came to live with them later in the story.Bratt’s stories of her work at a nearby Chinese orphanage captured my heart. I lived in Taiwan for a time so am familiar with the long roundabout scores of signatures needed for paperwork to be completed and positive change to occur—all while being careful to work within a set of prescribed guidelines not to offend. What gripped me was her passion for the children and how she provided care despite grieving over their situations. I was surprised to be so drawn into her story through a journal format but page after page compelled me to read on to find out the fate of many of the orphans, especially the babies. I also loved how she included some letters explaining how some of the children fared after their adoptions.Sometimes the stories felt heavy. Probably realizing this, the author interspersed stories of her cultural adaptation to life in her city and in Beijing. I enjoyed one anecdote she shared with her family getting a foot massage. She showed how her thoughts came out pell-mell as she sat through it. Boy could I relate!Bratt has stated her overall purpose is to bring awareness to the orphanage issue and to create more adoptions and sponsorships. My hat is off to her with the ongoing work she is doing from the States on behalf of the orphanage and I was so pleased she received an award for her work.This book gripped me. The only aspect I would change is for Bratt to provide more positive examples of life within her host country outside of the orphanage to give readers a more balanced picture of the Chinese culture.

Top critical review

I should be the ideal reader for a book like this. As an adoptive mom of three kids, all Asian (though not Chinese), I am highly sympathetic to the plight of "orphans" around the world (many of whom have living parents who are unable to care for them for a multitude of reasons.) I've visited orphanages in China and India, and I've done quite a bit of reading and speaking about developmental and social outcomes related to early institutionalization. But it's unfortunate: this book's purpose, to raise awareness of the conditions of institutionalized orphans in China, is undermined by the author's persistent and intrusive bias against all things Chinese. China is repeatedly referred to as "this strange land" or "this foreign land"; she (rather casually) states that Chinese men don't respect women; she wonders with annoyance why the serving staff at McDonald's persist in speaking to her in Mandarin; and finally, attempting to support a narrative arc in which she and the Chinese caretakers eventually grow to understand each other,, she concludes that the Chinese "have their own culture, which they've had for hundreds of years." (Hundreds of years, indeed! Those pesky Chinese whippersnappers! Try tens of thousands.)It's more than understandable that Bratt feels angry about the conditions that many children languish in, and she's at her best when confronting the truly appalling neglect and abuse she documents: healthy babies wither into apathetic, developmentally delayed children, while children with extra challenges like cleft palate or blindness fade away and - too often - die in their beds. It sounds as though she and her team of volunteers made some substantial changes in the orphanage, enriching the lives of all the kids, and providing several individual children with life-saving medical and foster care. I truly enjoyed reading the letters included at the end from adoptive parents who ultimately provided a "forever family" to some of the children Bratt knew as a volunteer, and these letters offer a lot of credibility to Bratt's work there. Unfortunately, her anger over the plight of the orphans is too often translated into rather harsh generalizations about Chinese culture and people. Although Bratt says she learned to speak Mandarin, her writing voice is that of a foreigner who fears and loathes what she doesn't understand.

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Book is simply written, and an easy read. Author gives a good picture of one Chinese orphage. I read this because of acquaintances who have visited other Chinese orphanages.It rings pretty true to the experiences they discribed. It also gives a good incite into what tramas these poor little ones have gone through in early life. It's easier to understand the amount of extra care it will take to overcome those early shortfalls. I would recommend this book to anyone thinking of adopting or volunteering, along with several other books. I am not sure how much these places have improved over the last dozen years since this was written.

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I like to keep a journal when I travel and then read it years later, recalling and reflecting. This is reading Kay Bratt’s personal journal, her thoughts and feelings. It is a sad read; however, it is a joy to read about her helping a child feel love. Frustration and helplessness are constant. But Bratt did make a difference; her efforts were occasionally rewarded. She actually had a complete staff of volunteers at the end. I have visited orphanages in China and India and perhaps this helped me to relate.

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While a bit difficult to read at times due to the subject matter, it was awesome to learn about this woman's journey into helping these sometimes forgotten children in China ... with sensitivity that most would find difficult to master, understanding that you cannot "bulldoze" people of another culture, and a true love of children and Christ, she has mastered this feat and left an enduring mark and lesson for others to follow!!

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The author was in a less developed part of China for a few years when her husband was posted there for work. She decided to help out in an orphanage during her time there. The one-child policy has led to some parents wanting healthy boys. The main reasons being able to perform rough tasks at the farm and carrying on the family name. Public hospitals in China do not reveal the gender of the child and parents only know the gender at birth. Therefore, orphanages then (and likely now still) tend to receive girls or boy with disabilities. Kay keeps a diary about her life there and the book discusses her trials and jubilations, how she overcame her emotions to do what she had to do in the interest of the children. As she progressed in her "career" she started to lead a team of volunteers, had to fight for funding and even when there was funding and hospital willing to treat these children there were still bureaucracy and red tapes to cross. Silent Tears can be heartbreaking for some readers but also gives people a sense of hope and love at the end of it. There is also a website that Kay maintains to update progress of these orphans.